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Timeline Event

Hosts of Isengard leave for Helm's Deep

Event Type: Military/Strategic

Age: 3rd Age - Ring War

Date: March 2, 3019

Description:

An event in the 2nd Battle of the Fords of Isen and the preludes to the Destruction of Isengard by Ents, and the Battle of the Hornburg; see those entries for an overview:
'[Saruman] seems to have been at the gates when we arrived: I expect he came to watch his splendid army march out.'

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 3, Ch 9, Flotsam and Jetsam

'All Isengard must be emptied....'

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 3, Ch 7, Helm's Deep

'Then all at once there was a tremendous stir. Trumpets blared and the walls of Isengard echoed.... All Saruman's people were marching away. I don't know much about this war, or about the Horsemen of Rohan, but Saruman seems to have meant to finish off the king and all his men with one final blow. He emptied Isengard. I saw the enemy go: endless lines of marching Orcs; and troops of them mounted on great wolves. And there were battalions of Men, too. Many of them carried torches, and... I could see their faces. Most of them were ordinary men, rather tall and dark-haired, and grim but not particularly evil-looking. But there were some others that were horrible: man-high, but with goblin-faces, sallow, leering, squint-eyed.... they reminded me at once of that Southerner at Bree: only he was not so obviously orc-like as most of these were.'...

'[There] must have been ten thousand at the very least,' said Merry. 'They took an hour to pass out of the gates. Some went off down the highway to the Fords, and some turned away and went eastward. A bridge has been built down there, about a mile away, where the river runs in a very deep channel.... They were all singing with harsh voices, and laughing.... I thought things looked very black for Rohan.'

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 3, Ch 9, Flotsam and Jetsam

'Saruman... had despatched his full strength against you, and his servants had turned aside from all other errands and gone to Helm's Deep....'

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 3, Ch 8, The Road to Isengard

It was not yet midnight when points of red light were seen coming from the north and already drawing near on the west of the river. It was the vanguard of the whole remaining forces of Saruman that he was now committing to battle for the conquest of Westfold.

Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 5, The Battles of the Fords of Isen

Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 28Jan05, 2Mar08, 14Mar08

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